President Obama: 'I never suggested that change would be easy'
By: Josh Gerstein January 27, 2010 10:19 PM EDT

President Barack Obama moved to recapture the political initiative in his State of the Union message Wednesday night by offering an unusually frank acknowledgement that many voters are having doubts about his leadership and his ability to bring an end to partisan gridlock in Washington.

“I campaigned on the promise of change – change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure that they still believe we can change – or at least, that I can deliver it,” Obama said during his address to a joint session of Congress. “But remember this – I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I could do it alone. “

With his signature health care reform initiative waylaid on Capitol Hill and many voters complaining that too much time was spent on the issue last year, Obama sent a clear signal that he’ll try to regain voters’ confidence with a sharp focus on fixing the recession and creating jobs.

“Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight,” Obama declared. . “People are out of work. They are hurting. They need our help. And I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.”

He pledged to devote $30 billion in repaid Wall Street bailout funds to jump-start lending to small businesses, and called for a small business jobs credit that would help 1 million firms hire worker or raise wages.

As for the policy initiative that dominated his first year in office, Obama gave a passing mention of health care, calling on Congress not to “walk away” from a comprehensive reform bill when they are so close to enacting sweeping changes.

But he laid out no legislative roadmap for resurrecting the idea and no timeline for restarting progress toward a bill – which, like much of Obama’s agenda, was sidetracked by the stunning victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts last week.

For their part, Republicans were restrained in their applause but respectful, with no Joe Wilson-style outburst like the one at Obama’s speech last year. But Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was caught on camera mouthing the words “not true” when Obama said the recent decision allowing corporate spending on political activity would also allow foreign companies to influence U.S. elections.

Obama also threw in some proposals for fiscal restraint and getting tough on Washington – a three year spending freeze on most domestic spending, a $90 billion fee on banks that received bailouts, a pay freeze for top White House officials.

But beyond any specific policy or program, Obama took pains throughout the speech to show Americans that he understands the suffering caused by the economic slump and shares their anger at both Wall Street and Washington – in effect, that he gets the message sent in Massachusetts and in earlier elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

“I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They’re not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for President,” Obama declared. “Some are frustrated; some are angry. They don’t understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded but hard work on Main Street isn’t; or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems.”

It was a tricky balancing act for Obama – who said he counts himself among those who were outraged by the billions of dollars loaned to banks, even as he insisted that trillion-dollar bank bailouts were a necessary curative to stave off a second Great Depression.

“If there’s one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans and everybody in between, it’s that we all hated the bank bailout….I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal,” Obama said. “But when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn’t just do what was popular – I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today.”
With populist anger riding high, Obama tried to reclaim the mantle of political reform and change that helped carry him to victory in 2008.

“We have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years,” Obama declared. “To close that credibility gap, we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.”

In fact, at times, Obama’s speech seemed to turn back the clock, hearkening back to some of his biggest applause lines from the campaign, even from the speech that put him on the political map, the 2004 keynote at the Democratic convention. He said the values that built America “aren’t Republican values or Democratic values. . .they’re American values.”

And he tried to summon a sense of national purpose to confront pressing problems, making an appeal to bipartisanship that was a hallmark of his presidential campaign – but that hasn’t marked his time in the White House.

In fact, the sense of trying to hit the reset button was a theme that prevailed through the speech, as he tried to remind Americans of the politician many of them swooned over in 2008 – not the stymied president of the past week, but the soaring orator who made them believe in politics again.

“Democracy in a nation of three hundred million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That’s just how it is.”

In the Republican response to Obama’s address, newly elected Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) said he had “serious concerns” about the Obama Administration’s handling of attempted bombing of an American airliner on Christmas Day, allegedly by Nigerian Umar AbdulMutallab.

“This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen, and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence,” McDonnell said. “As Senator-elect Scott Brown says, we should be spending taxpayer dollars to defeat terrorists, not to protect them.”

Obama said the administration was “filling unacceptable gaps revealed by the Christmas attack.”

However, he made no mention of other major parts of his terrorism policy, such as his plans to close Guantanamo, move some terror suspects to a state prison in Illinois and send others to New York City for trial in civilian courts.

“Let’s put aside the schoolyard taunts about who is tough. Let’s reject the false choice between protecting our people and upholding our values. Let’s leave behind the fear and division, and do what it takes to defend our nation and forge a more hopeful future – for America and the world,” Obama said.

In defending his domestic record, Obama gingerly suggested that the highly unpopular, $787 billion stimulus plan he signed was beginning to turn the economy around. “Retirement funds have started to gain back some of their value. Businesses are beginning to invest again, and slowly some are starting to hire again,” he said.

Obama also railed against congressional Republicans for obstructing his nominees and he insisted that fact that Democrats no longer have a 60-vote majority in the Senate puts the onus on the GOP to join work on his major initiatives.

“If the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well,” the president said. “Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”

Obama also told Democrats to buck up in the wake of the stinging defeat in Massachusetts. “I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills,” he said.

While Obama devoted the bulk of his remarks to jobs, he insisted he wasn’t giving up on health care reform and he urged Congress to press forward.

“Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people,” the president said. “Let’s get it done. Let’s get it done.”

Obama said Americans were disturbed by “lobbying and horse-trading” on the bill, but he failed to offer suggestions he had promised on how the process could be improved going forward. He declined to weigh in publicly in a running battle between House and Senate Democrats about how to pass broad legislation now that Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. And his call to “get it done” seemed somewhat at odds with suggestions from various quarters, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that Congress might move first on piecemeal legislation encompassing the least controversial reforms.

“By now it should be clear that I didn’t take on health care because it’s good politics,” he joked. “I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people.”

In another closely-watched portion of his speech, the president called on Congress to work in the coming months repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, but his remarks offered no details on how such a result would be achieved.

“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”